Blink
by SonicH2O
Summary: Jack smiled softly feeling guilt swelling up inside him. She was opening up to him, just has he was about to betray her.Jate oneshot


Alright this is another Jate oneshot from _LTDA_...to explain the "look" that happened between Kate and Jack...

_**R&R please**_

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"**Compromised**" The word echoed through Jack's head as he sat in a desolate corner of the beach, out of site from the rest of camp, a bottle of unopened alcohol in his hand. God he hated this. He had never asked to be a hero. Since the beginning he had been waiting for the day when he would mess it up, and then the mutiny that would follow. He had thought that Boone's death would show them that there faith was in the wrong man. Or Claire's abduction, Ana and Libby's deaths, or the countless other deadly mistakes, but no, they stuck behind him, no matter what. That sort of faith in him wasn't something Jack was use too, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He sighed, wondering how much longer the survivors seemingly undying faith would last. _Not long if this rescue mission goes sour_ he thought staring at the bottle.

He cursed under his breath. Not only would they turn from him if Sayid's plan and his lies got someone killed, but that someone might be_ her_. She _had_ to come, it was part of the plan...but not telling her was killing him inside. Honesty had been something he had always begged her for, and here he was feeling like the biggest hypocrite , about to lie to her; a lie that could very likely end with her with a bullet in her.

" This is so messed up," He muttered, pulling the cap off the bottle and taking a long swig.

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Something was off to her. Kate tried to shake it off as shock; she had just helped bury 2 people who had been murdered in _cold blood_, but she knew it was something else...something deeper.

Jack. Jack was gone, that was what it was. She knew he blamed himself. He always did. Kate was pretty sure that some part of Jack was trying to blame himself for global warming. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and then the rest of the Milky way. She shook her head sadly and went off to find him, hoping that maybe he would open up and let her help him.

She found him; though she had to admit she wasn't ready for _how _she found him. Shards of an empty whiskey bottle were scattered near a tree trunkas though it had been thrown violently, and Jack was cradling his head in his hands crying softly. She approached him slowly, remembering how violent some drunks could be; Wayne's face flashing through her mind.

" Jack?" she asked softly, sitting down tenitivly next to him.

" It's so messed up Kate..." He whispered hoarsely, choking on her name.

" It's not your fault Jack, Henry is a _monster_ there's nothing you could have done," She whispered back soothingly, thinking he was beating himself up about their deaths.

That just produced a muffled sob from Jack. Kate reached out to him and gently pulled him to her, tears silently running down her cheeks. Seeing him like this...she couldn't even begin to explain how much it was ripping her apart.

He needed her embrace more then he had ever needed anything before. He needed the comfort, the embrace, and the support like a drowning man needed air. Pulling her closer he buried his face into her neck, knowing that later things might be awkward but not caring then.

She rubbed his back soothingly, obviously startled by his outburst of emotions, emotions he usually kept so well guarded. She inhaled his scent as he buried his head in her shoulder, despite the circumstances, savoring his touch.

"Kate..." he finally whisperer, sounding more like a wounded puppy then the Jack she had come to know; the raw emotion in his voice cutting through her like a knife. " I'm going to do something soon...something I have to do...but people aren't going to like it...no matter what...I can't win...I..." he trailed off, unable to speak.

Kate frown, even with a bottle of alcohol in his system, he was still cryptic.

" Jack I...I don't understand..." She said shaking her head in confusionhoping to get more out of him, anything to get him past this.

He swallowed hard, seeming to debate what he was about to say; staring intently out at the waves crashing on the shore. Suddenly he turned his head and looked her right in the eye, his gaze more intense then ever, with the emotion that was poring out of them.

" I need...I need to know you still have my back..." he whispered.

She blinked in response, smilingsoftly at the request. She knew he could do anything and she would still have his back-of course that was something she would never tell him, but still.

Jack frowned when she didn't answer. He nodded, swallowed hard and stood to leave; feeling more alone then ever.

Kate realized her lack of a verbal response had upset him and she quickly blurted , " My friend and I, ...when we were little, whenever we couldn't talk, for whatever the reason, we would always nod when we wanted to know if the other was still behind us, and we...we would blink in response..." She finished, thinking back on the many times she and Tom had used that signal to escape Wayne's wrath.

Jack smiled softly; feeling guilt swelling up inside him. She was opening up to him, just has he was about to betray her.

" So ..." He started , " if I want to know if you have my back all I have to do is nod?"

"Yeah." she said smiling softly at him; almost unable to meet his intense gaze.

" And you'll just... _blink_ if you still have my back?"

" I'll blink." she stated , reassuring him of her faith in him, despite the fact that she still didn't know where any of this was going.

" Thank you," he said swallowing hard and putting a hand on her shoulder as a gesture of his gratitude leavingher to return to camp.

Kate stayed where she was; wondering and worrying about what could make Jack act like that. But she did know one thing: No matter what she had Jack's back, and maybe , just maybe one day she could have more.

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So yeah...lot's of speculation on the " plan" that our favorite characters must have been hatching, but I think maybe it was something else, and I thought I would share that opinion with the world.

R&R and check out my profile for my other Jate oneshots!


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